Red Shards
by insertappropropriatenamehere
Summary: Marianne, instead of vanishing into the World of C, decides to possess Lelouch to recoup some of her losses. Unfortunately, she’s nothing like her son. And she loves to meddle.


AN: This is an old idea recycled from the idea heap. I didn't want to do this with three other stories in full flow, but all that lovely fanart...

Synopsis: Marianne, instead of vanishing into the World of C, decides to possess Lelouch instead to recoup some of her losses. Unfortunately, she's _nothing_ like her son. And she loves to meddle.

Disclaimer: 2stupid in no way owns Code Geass or anything affiliated with it, otherwise there'd be a lot more Ho Yay going around.

"Speech"

_Thoughts_ (or _emphasis on something_)

'_Marianne injecting her thoughts into Lelouch's mind'_

XxXxX

Chapter 1: Red Shards

XxXxX

Lelouch frowned as his father vanished into the World of C, almost followed by his mother.

"Why am I still here?" Marianne whispered, looking at her hands.

"It was likely the bond of your Geass and my Code," C.C. muttered, leaning back. "Lelouch, Suzaku, Marianne and I are going to have a talk. I suggest you two kiss and make up now."

As the two boys began arguing and- eventually- plotting, C.C. looked at Marianne. "So what are you going to do now?"

Marianne cast her eye in her son's direction. "Charles's plan is gone, but Lelouch probably has one as well. I will cast my lot with my son, of course. After all, utopia is utopia, no matter whose utopia it is."

"That's awfully cruel for someone who just lost the love of her life," C.C. observed acerbically.

Marianne frowned. "It's not like that," she insisted. "This is the only way that I can ensure that Charles's ideas make it into the future. And if Lelouch fails, I can continue our plan in Schneizel's body, ne? I should at least give my children a chance." Then she laughed. "Our family is obsessed with paradise, isn't it?"

C.C. nodded dryly. "I haven't seen a family quite like yours, Marianne. I think you were right to leave him in Japan. It helped him grow up."

"That didn't make it any easier," Lelouch interjected, walking over.

"That was fast," Marianne commented.

"We came to an agreement." Suzaku otherwise ignored the two of them, turning his back and scanning the orange-red horizon. "We've all lost too much. For everyone that's gone, we cannot turn back."

"Sad, isn't it?" Lelouch said airily. Too airily, considering the circumstances.

Warning bells went off in the two women's heads. "What did you plan?" Marianne asked in her best 'mother' voice. "Tell mommy now."

Suzaku shuddered. "Your mother sounds creepy."

"Hey! I do not!"

As Lelouch and the rest left, Marianne took the chance and jumped into his body, resting in the back of his mind, content to watch events unfold.

Oh, this was going to be good.

XxXxX

Marianne whistled mentally in shock and disbelief as Lelouch handed Zero's mask to his friend. Oh, he _wasn't_!

Nope, he was. So, still hidden in the back of Lelouch's mind, Marianne began plotting.

Slowly, at night, when Lelouch was close to sleeping, Marianne would take over his body and begin practicing emulating him, right down to the last little nuance, until not even Suzaku could distinguish her from him, as evidenced by a late-night jaunt that ended in her telling him she'd gotten lost while searching for the restroom. As "Lelouch" had been blundering around a darkened living room somewhere between his bed and said bathroom (why had the idiot planners put the bathrooms so far away from the bedrooms?), he believed her.

Lelouch himself attributed his lack of memory of the incident when Suzaku mentioned it the next day to the fact that tired people tend to forget things. He also never quite figured out why he felt so tired in the morning, or where those odd bruises came from, but since he figured he was going to die in a few months anyways, he might as well just go along with it.

Marianne laughed her head off over the incident.

Finally, the big day came. Lelouch never even knew what hit him before his consciousness landed with a _thump_ in the World of C, effectively unconscious, which put his body in the same state as a person in a vegetative coma. Marianne resisted the urge to smack her son's rather nonexistent ass and continued up the steps to the UN meeting place formerly known as Ashford Academy's gym.

She remembered Lelouch's mental script, the carefully crafted questions that would elicit the answers to give him the advantage in the diplomatic field. Oh, she was going to have a field day with this.

_I won't let you kill my son, Kururugi Suzaku. Not before I make him suffer first. _

"Tell me, what is democracy?" she asked in her best Lelouch-voice. "What governs the right to rule the world?"

Sumeragi Kaguya looked directly into 'her' eyes before answering firmly, "pride and honor."

"That is a good answer. You are a gifted young woman, after all. But is that so?" she retorted confidently, pasting a shy smile and amused expression on his face. "What happens when the pride and honor of two different people collide? Who is in the right? What determines that laws are just?" She could hear the gasps of the UN council members around her, as well as the electronically transmitted voices of the Black Knights from the Ikaruga's bridge, and hoped it was due to her questions, not a slip-up of her voice. She still needed practice with that one.

"Then the one with the more power is the righteous one," Schneizel's voice boomed suddenly into the room. "And in this case, brother, I am the one with the more power." The roof of the building collapsed inwards. At that point, the only thing Marianne could think of was 'crap'. This was _not_ part of the plan. Wasn't he supposed to be invading Pendragon or something?

She was pretty sure that Suzaku kid was thinking it too, wherever he was, judging by the horrified gasp that filtered through her hidden earpiece and by the sudden, sharp mental push of Lelouch struggling to overcome her Geass.

The transport ship landed and unloaded its contents; former members of the Britannian Army and one Schneizel el Britannia.

Oh, was she going to have words with him.

"Hello, Schneizel."

Schneizel bowed mockingly to her. "Lelouch. You traitor."

Marianne smirked. "What are you implying? You know how the succession goes. The winner determines all. And I am the winner."

"The aristocrats are on my side," Schneizel pointed out rather unnecessarily. "Technically, the fight for the sucession is not over yet."

"And the rest of the world is on mine," Marianne said grandiosely, sweeping her arm around the room at the various cowering UFN members. "I hope?"

Kaguya nodded tightly, her green eyes blazing. She truly would have made Lelouch a brilliant wife, Marianne mused.

"The will of the people?" Schneizel asked calmly. "Don't be ridiculous. Now, please come with me, brother, or I will have no choice but to use force."

"I am Lelouch vi Britannia," she retorted. _Not really, but that doesn't matter right now._ Lelouch gave another urgent, rather horrified-feeling push in the back of her mind, and she had the feeling that his Geass allowed him to remain conscious in the back of his own mind, unlike Anya. _A fate worse than death, indeed._ "I am the 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire. _You_ are the traitor." _Plot twist!_

Schneizel, however, looked nonplussed. "That is not how it appears to you."

"It does not matter how it appears to you," Marianne replied calmly. "Only how it appears to the world."

The look on the former Second Prince's face grew ugly, and he reached out to grab one skinny white-clad arm. "That does not matter." He began forcefully dragging Lelouch's body to the waiting helicopter, Marianne mentally cursing her son's lack of any physical strength whatsoever.

"Stop!" That would be Kallen Kouzuki, one of very few people Lelouch actually cared about. At her cry, Schneizel's men aimed at her.

"Now that would be cruel," Marianne said, struggling to maintain control. Lelouch was battering rather furiously at her Geass's forced control of his body now. She put a hand to her forehead, accidentally knocking off that ridiculous hat of his.

Schneizel flinched, and Marianne realized she wasn't using her Lelouch-voice anymore.

"Ooh, me accent's slipped," she mocked, sneering at him prettily. That particular sneer had taken her a few years to learn and had been an inestimably valuable gift as a member of Charles' harem.

Schneizel actually flinched, and Marianne smiled her favorite creepy-sweet smile. "Yes, I am Marianne vi Britannia, and I am possessing my son. To prove that, I will now give examples of events that Lelouch has absolutely no knowledge of."

Schneizel's expression became impassive once more. "Have you truly lost your mind, Lelouch? Your mother is dead."

"How cruel," Marianne mocked. "I am really Marianne. After all, Lelouch wouldn't know about that time you peed in your bed when you were nine, or when you utterly failed your first Knightmare simulation test when you were eleven after you told me you wanted to follow my footsteps, or when you said you wanted to marry your sister Cornelia, or of your involvement in our plot to be rid of one meddling Anabella mei Bri-"

Schneizel winced, a heavy blush dusting his cheeks and ears. "I have no idea how you found your knowledge of those events, Lelouch, but-"

"Wow, you certainly are in denial, aren't you, Schneizel?" Marianne drawled, smirking at him. She walked slowly towards him, carefully placing each step-

"Lelouch, stop wiggling your hips like a girl." Marianne almost jumped like a rookie soldier; apparently, Kouzuki Kallen had taken advantage of Schneizel's distraction to crawl- or beat up soldiers- on her way to her former now possessed classmate. "That just looks wrong."

"I _am_ a girl," Marianne informed her loftily, staring haughtily down at her in her most Gabriella-esque fashion (or at least the way Gabriella had before she had gone unhinged due to her son Clovis's death), before she peeked at her behind. "You're right, though. Lelouch has no ass."

The redhead choked on her own laughter as Marianne turned back to the current obstacle in her chosen path.

"Do you want irrefutable proof, you and your crazy reporter-man as well? Well, here you have it." With the ease of a thought, they were all inside the World of C, UFN diplomats, soldiers, Schneizel, and Black Knight guards all.

Marianne smiled. "Do you see now?"

"How do I know you're not simply Lelouch trying to deceive us?" This question came from Kaguya, of all people.

Marianne turned to the Japanese girl and flashed her a smile. "You truly would have made my son a great wife."

"That's not the point," Kaguya blushed.

"Look behind you." Kaguya backed up, turning, only to trip over something on the ground.

"Wha- aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh! Zero-sama!" Kaguya hugged Lelouch's unconscious head to herself. "I'm sorry I tripped over you! Wake up!"

"He won't wake up," Marianne shrugged, slightly surprised at the girl's sudden change of emotion, "as long as I am possessing him, he won't wake up. His consciousness is sealed."

"Pray excuse me for interrupting, Lady Marianne, but please, tell us where we are," Schneizel interrupted politely. There was a metallic _click_ and a gun prodded her lower back. "And why is Jupiter with an occult symbol on it hanging in the sky? What happened to Ashford Academy? Does this have to do with-"

"This is what you could call a spirit world or soulforge or something," a cool voice came. Everyone looked to where a young woman with long lime-green hair sauntered casually out of some randomly appearing mist, chewing on what looked to be a fresh slice of pizza.

"Oh, hello, CC. I hope you don't mind my taking over Lelouch for now? I'll give him his body back after this." Marianne stretched, an easy, casual movement, then moved. Within moments, Schneizel found himself empty-handed, one arm still stretched out uselessly, Marianne with one arm around his neck in a chokehold and the other holding his gun to his head.

CC shrugged carelessly and took another bite of her pizza. "This is still being broadcast live worldwide, you know. Apparently, communications out of this World of C. were not cut off this time. And what is Lelouch wearing?"

Marianne blinked in confusion and looked down. Oh. "It appears to be a black version of my old piloting uniform."

"He looks like he's wearing a dress," an older woman in a gray business suit said, obviously braver than her compatriots. "What?" she defended herself. "It looks pretty."

CC ignored her and looked at her friend and accomplice's mother. "So what do we do now?"

Marianne smirked at him openly. "We explain things, of course."

XxXxX

In the space of half a day, the world was turned on its collective head. The leader of the most powerful nation in the world was either possessed by his dead mother or very, very insane, most of the world leaders had gotten sucked into some kind of alternate dimension controlled by said possessed/insane leader, and the other contender for the throne was currently staging a coup from out of nowhere. Said possessed leader of the most powerful nation in the world also happened to apparently have been Zero- which rather explained his policies and Zero's sudden disappearance, at that.

Marianne, of course, was having the time of her life. She thrived off conflict and confusion, one of the main reasons why she'd become a Knight in the first place. Being able to marry her beloved was only a bonus.

There was the slight problem of her son being in a mostly vegetative coma, of course, but that wasn't really important just then.

"-but such possession is wrong!" a man wearing a turban protested with a thick accent. "And your story is clearly implausible!"

"What, do you want me to possess you instead?" Marianne drawled, beginning the opening steps of a pavane. "I could do that, if you wish."

"How long have you been possessing him?" a white woman who could have come from virtually anywhere in Europe asked.

"Just before this meeting," Marianne admitted. He was much harder to take control of than Anya had been.

"And-" A white Knightmare swooped in, shredding away more randomly-appearing mist.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF LELOUCH'S BODY!!!"

"Suzaku-kun!"

"What the-"

"Aaaugh!"

"The white Grim Reaper!"

"The Knight of Zero!"

"That one guy with chronic backstabbing disorder!"

Everyone turned and briefly stared at Marianne, who had made the last statement mockingly, before their collective attentions were once again subsumed by the giant Knightmare Frame that had appeared out of nowhere.

"What do you want, Kururugi? I'm not leaving Lelouch's body, unless it's for yours. Besides, you killed Bismarck. I liked him."

The Lancelot Albion aimed its pretty blue Super VARIS Rifle at her head.

"You kill me, and Lelouch dies." It wasn't a threat. It wasn't even an ultimatum. It was just the truth, plain and simple.

Suzaku cursed fluently and foully in four languages- or rather, cursed fluently in two and rather rudimentarily in two others- and raised his rifles.

"For the record, some of your curses were wildly off topic," Marianne said calmly, just to annoy him further. "I do not see how failing to draw up a full bucket of water has anything to do with me."

Suzaku blinked, then made an "o" as he realized he hadn't bothered to censor his cursing. Eavesdropping on locals after conquering them does not make for a good guide to curses. "Oh. Uh- N-no! Wait! Don't get off topic! Stop possessing Lelouch!"

"What, so Zero Requiem can take place?" Marianne twirled easily. When all was said and done, she still missed her own body. "As if I'd condone the thought of your killing my son. Just remember- if you try to, I will possess you instead." Lelouch was practically banging on the insides of her- technically his- skull now. _He must be so angry right now, _she thought, _subconsciously, of course. _

"Then what does the Emperor of Britannia have to say about all this?" a former EU member- the Polish ambassador, if she remembered correctly- questioned. "Your son, not you. Let him speak, woman."

Marianne smirked and returned them to the material world.

XxXxX

Schneizel was rapidly losing control of the situation. Matters were slipping quickly out of his hands due to his younger brother's (his aunt's?) machinations, despite the fact that he supposedly held numerical supremacy. Nothing he'd garnered from the remnants of Code R had prepared him for _this_. Obviously, the scientists had not been part of the grand scheme, only intruding on something they had no idea the true scope of.

He signaled his men closer when there was that odd not-thrown-and-sucked-down-a-giant-imaginary-drain feeling and they were back in the real world. Marianne was Lelouch again in this world, except this Lelouch somehow knew how to fight.

When he signaled his men to capture the erstwhile Emperor, Marilouch (as the two had become in his mind) not only managed to fight them off, he summoned soldiers he'd apparently kept in reserve for such an option. For the first time in a long time, Schneizel was at a disadvantage. The public image he'd tried to obtain was thrown out the proverbial window, and the secret was out. He retreated back to the Damocles, hovering over the ocean five hundred miles away, as Marianne hashed out a plan to return the various Areas to semiautonomous rule with their own representation and governments.

His brother was destroying Britannia, he was sure of it.

"I will stop you," he said softly. Thousands, millions, or more, of Britannians had died to make their homeland the empire it was, and now Maril- _Lelouch_- was destroying everything.

"Nunnally," he said warmly, striding confidently to where his younger half-sister sat, ensconced in her pretty pink wheelchair. _As of now, she is my only wild card. That is all right. I will take everything from Marilouch, or Lelouch, or whoever he considers himself to be, and return Britannia to her rightful state- the greatest, most powerful nation on this planet. And this Damocles is all I need. _"I'm afraid I have bad news." Sadness crept into his voice. "Lelouch rejected my offer. I tried my best, but apparently he now believes that he is your mother."

"Brother? Did he?" Nunnally suddenly seemed so small and fragile in that wheelchair. "That's not like him. He couldn't."

"There may still be hope for him, if we can somehow manage to convince him," Schneizel suggested.

"You want to go to war, don't you?" So Nunnally was not as unperceptive as she seemed. No big deal.

"I'm afraid that is the only option left to us, sister." Behind him, he heard Cornelia answer. "Damocles and the FLEIJA are the only way we can bring him over to our point of view."

"Then I want to be the one who sets FLEIJA off," Nunnally replied softly but firmly. "Brother killed so many people, even Euphy, for me. Let this be my sign of dedication to stopping him and my show of support for your cause."

Just as planned. "As you wish, dear."

Cornelia shifted. "Brother Schneizel, may I speak with you?"

Schneizel excused them and headed for a quieter, private room. Cornelia was blunt.

"Why are you deceiving her?"

The factions in this war were truly beginning to splinter. "It is for her own benefit." Even to his own ears, the words sounded a lie.

"You lie. It's wrong to involve her in this squabble of yours! She doesn't need this." Three swift steps, and Cornelia slapped him.

"This is all for the best, Cornelia." And with that, he signaled the turret guns.

Now what to tell Nunnally...

Schneizel turned back to his planning even as he called for medical services to help his sister. Unlike the Emperor, he knew that the past was already done, unchangeable, and unlike Lelouch, the future was too uncertain. The present held the best course of option, for himself and for Britannia.

XxXxX

When Lelouch was back in his body, it was with a terrible headache. He had a vague idea of what happened. "She just ruined everything, didn't she?" he asked Suzaku quietly.

"Yes," the Knight said.

Lelouch looked down at his hands. "Just because we lost our best option does not mean we cannot choose a lesser course."

"Don't forget why I joined you. It was for one reason, and one reason only."

"I have not." He looked at Suzaku, who stared back at him coldly. "I swore to you, and we will end this, interfering mother or no."

"You had better." In full view of the entire court, Kururugi Suzaku turn his back on his liege lord and left.

"I suppose I'll have to pay for damages to this facility," Lelouch said. "I'm sorry for the previous incident. Please forget about it."

"He does not seem very trustworthy," the Polish ambassador noticed, staring at the giant hole in the roof where Lancelot Albion had left.

"We made our deal," Lelouch replied absently. "It's nothing you need to worry about."

"Your life for his loyalty? It would be a problem if you were assassinated early." Lelouch finally noticed that the various heads of the Black Knights still on the Ikaruga were on display on various screens across the room. "And you have explaining to do."

"All in good time, I suppose." Considering how his Black Knights had betrayed him in the first place, he had no obligation whatsoever to fulfill their requests.

"Very well, then," Kaguya continued. Despite the rather (ie. very, very) odd interruption earlier and the quite viable possibility that the new Emperor of Britannia was insane or at least deluded, global politics did not stop. "We shall now vote on whether or not to allow Britannia into the United Federation of Nations. Emperor Lelouch (the French ambassadress snorted in amusement), as the representative of the nation under deliberation, I ask you to step outside during proceedings. We will inform you of our choice in due time."

'_She's flexible. Can adapt to any situation, physically and mentally,'_ a voice that sounded suspiciously like his mother commented in his head; Lelouch ignored it, bowed, and went to stand outside.

Incidentally, Kallen was there, and she was not happy.

"Explain."

"Are you sure? It would take longer than we have, even if every nation suddenly decided to begin deliberations again."

Kallen snorted. "I doubt it takes that long."

"Trust me, it does."

"Just begin talking."

"Well, you see, around two thousand years ago, the Celts elected a super king named Eowyn-"

"Just get to the point! I asked for the short version, not the long one."

"This is the short version. The long one begins in prehistory."

There was an uncomfortable pause, and Lelouch decided to continue. "Anyways, eventually Geass became tied with the Britannian monarchy in the form of the Geass Directorate, which is always under the aegis of one with the Code. Incidentally, Ben Franklin was influenced by an unspecified Geass to turn on his fellow insurgents-"

"And you know this how?"

Lelouch ignored the interruption. "It's amazing what the Imperial records hold. Anyways, as I was saying, the people with Code often had a hand in choosing the next Britannian emperor or empress, simply by giving the advantage of Geass. Fifty years ago, during the last fight for succession, my father's older twin gained a Code. They decided to create a world without lies by killing God. Charles eventually met my mother and married."

"Just get to the point, Lelouch."

"Eventually my mother got a Geass to possess people from CC, CC decided to watch me and Nunnally as a favor to my mother, VV killed my mother in jealousy, I decided to get revenge on Britanna for ruining my and my sister's lives, Charles took VV's Code and killed him apparently because VV sent an assassin- Rolo, I believe- after me and did not tell him, which apparently counts as a lie, things happened, I stopped Charles from using the Sword of Akasha- which also looks nothing like a sword, by the way- on God, Geassed God to erase him from existence and stop Akasha, and apparently got possessed by my mother."

"In addition to all those things you did in the past year and a half," Kallen added, thinking. "What you said still makes no sense."

"You weren't there, of course it doesn't." Lelouch slid down against the wall and leaned back. "It's really unbelievable." He paused as something dawned on him. "You recorded the entire conversation, didn't you?"

Kallen sheepishly removed a small transmitting device from a pocket.

"Were they worried about Geass?"

Kallen nodded.

"They were afraid I was going to Geass you," Lelouch said mockingly. "Don't worry, I can't do that to you anymore."

"Your Geass has limits?"

"Kallen, all Geass has limits. Mine happens to be so that I can only use on someone once, there are visual and auditory limitations, and I can't force people to do physically or mentally impossible things. I used Geass to ask you about Shinjuku. Remember?"

Kallen nodded unwillingly. "You asked me to forget about Shinjuku. That's right. That time, how did you-"

"Sayoko and a recording device," Lelouch explained. "And Geass," he admitted. "I didn't want anyone finding out from her."

"Geez, you sure were Geass-happy back then, weren't you?" Kallen snorted.

"I Geassed far fewer people than you believe I did," Lelouch replied archly. "Out of the entire Black Knights, only you and Sayoko. And Viletta, but I'm not sure she counts. I was young and innocent back then."

Kallen snorted. "It wasn't that long ago, and you've never been innocent."

"How saddeningly, appropriately true. Now let Xingke and everyone else relax now that they've heard the news." At Kallen's surprised glance, he snorted. "I did happen to notice that you never turned that damn device off. Schneizel probably told you what he knows about Geass, but that's obviously not everything. Besides, he was trying to scare you into betraying me. It worked."

"So why did you kill innocent-"

"The people at the Geass Directorate were either researchers actively involved in creating peple like Rolo or children just like Rolo. Besides, it was Rolo himself who approved of that option. I left it to him to decide."

"Viletta told me about him. She said he liked killing too much." Kallen looked at him. "You'll use anybody as a tool, won't you?"

"Use people, yes; as a tool, no." Lelouch leaned back. "Let's change the subject. Why do you think Schneizel attacked here today and not Pendragon?"

"Maybe Nunnally-" Kallen joked, but shut up after seeing the expression on her former leader's face.

An awkward silence dropped over the two, and it was with relief that Lelouch left in response to a guard's summons.

As he walked through Ashford Academy's halls, at once familiar and strange, more and more Black Knights joined his guards, all of them wearing eye protection.

Did they honestly think he was going to Geass everyone in the compound and force the vote or its aftermath? That option had been gone the second Marianne had revealed herself. _Yes, I'm talking about you, mother._

'_As very well you should,'_ that voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Marianne scolded primly. _'All mothers should take care for their children's best interests, right?' _

_By doing the opposite of what I intended?! You were never that type of parent in the first place. And I doubt I need to note that the fact that we have so many bodyguards is likely due to the fact that the UFN has rejected our suit. They don't want me disrupting proceedings._ Thus suitably distracted, Lelouch almost ran into the Black Knight in front of him- Kishimoto, he remembered, a veteran mostly known for his exploits with his favorite drinking buddy, one Shinichiro Tamaki- when they stopped in front of the enormous gym doors.

'_Think what you wish,'_ Marianne snickered. _'Of course, it might be due to the fact that most of the world thinks you're insane.' _

_That's your fault._ The doors in front of them slid open soundlessly, and Lelouch suppressed his mother's mind-voice to focus on the assembly in front of him.

"We, as the representatives of the United Federation of Nations gathered here on this day, August 18, 2018 ATB, have made our choice concerning the Holy Britannian Empire's request to join our ranks, and the conditions concerning the aforementioned requested." Kaguya's voice echoed effortlessly around the room, and her gaze sharpened over the man she once loved and knew. "Would the representative of the nation in question agree to hear our choice?"

Lelouch looked up at her. "Of course."

XxXxX

Tsuzuku


End file.
